Sunday, 30 September 2007

Just wondering... - Voracious Blog Reader

Many Indian people living in the western world have a nick name/alternate name since the western world finds it hard to pronounce their names.

Why do they find it hard? Don't we not learn the pronounciation of their names? Why not they then? Probably westerns have a answer to my above questions.

On the othe hand, people come up with their nicknames/alternate names themselves.

I can understand situations like:

" Hi, I am Dhanalakshmi. People call me Dhana".

" Hi my name is Bharath Kumar. People usally call me Bharath".

But why situations like:

" My name is Kamakshi. You can call me kams"

Or

" My name is Krishnamurthy. You can call me kris"

Is it an inferiority complex that leads to suggesting nicknames ourselves? Or is one trying to sound western? Or is one changing their name to be accepted in a group?

For example, in the U.S, the number of Indians living is quite a huge sum. Why then do they name their kids "Laya, kris etc.," trying to hide their race? The name wouldn't stand out if it was a usual name like "Krishnakumari or rajalakshmi" considering the huge population of Indians right?

Do the foreign nationals in India, working on an extended period of a couple of months to a few years, change their names from "Renate" to "Rani" or from "Heinrich" to "rishi"?

Update: Just to maintain the gravitas of my post, did not include the following funny video earlier.

35 comments:

its not inferiority complex...u have to understand that 1) not many people like reciting 20-50 syllable long names of gods... so shortening is logical.2) often the full name of SI contains the city/village name... now nobody would like to be called Mr Bangalore etc. so its good to suggest them what part of the long long name should the other person pick up.

3) often people have people from other culture have problem reciting the complicated pronunciation... so its better to have a short simple nick name rather than correcting people over and over again

Hey Partner :) Nice post . I too have wondered why people shorten their names to some syllable that is not even remotely associated with their original names....but even I am guilty of shortening names , Kootalee. I dont shorten my name but I shorten all my friends names. Our blogger Sowmya is Sowms , Aishwarya is Aish , Bhuvana is Bhuvan and ofcourse u r V ;-)Anks ? Anki ? ;-) :))

Don't be. Calling Sowmya as Sowms and so on and so forth are because you want to address the person in an affectionate way and not because their names are difficult to pronounce or you want to make it sound "hip".

//

How do we call Ankur ?Anks ? Anki ? ;-) :))//

hee hee. Just call him by his name viz. "Ankur" [same spelling but pronounced as "Anchor"]. He usually anchors his boat when he sees sharks and rants, instead of chasing them. :D

some ppl are doing it due to inferiority complex, we got to admit that. but some just want to make their names to be pronounced easily. i was known as amutha during my primary and secondary school, but when i entered pre-U, the majority of my classmates were chinese and they found it hard to pronounce such a short name! thus, i bcame ammu to them. and i always been ammu in my home. :)

Mind if I address you this way? or do you prefer your pet name at home? I came to know you as Ammu and would like to stick to it though. :)

Take care ammu.

@ Krish Ashok

Can't help laughing at the various pronounciations for the 3 syllable word. Are the Americans that dumb? I am sure you have the knack to sound the same when it comes to their names. Tried that? How did they react?

//Aah :) Sir VBR finally blogs.//

Are you sure about the way you have addressed me?

//VBR finally blogs. So he does "really exist" ;)//

Yes. And I would understand if you prefer not to scratch my back :p

@ Curious

hee hee hee. Nice one.

I like the way you insist that your name be pronounced fully. Way to go Curious. Proud of you. :)

Nice Post Voracious Blog Reader, it is of course a big question that has been sitting in my mind too. My answer to it would be that most people who shorten their names are the ones who don't want to live for themselves, but should be pleasing somebody or satisfy somebody. Of course, the affectionate shortening of the names is different. But the Ayyampettai Arivudai Nambi Kaliyaperumal Chandrans prefer to introduce themselves as Chandru or Chan (imitating Jackie Chan) :D, but a nice noteworthy point brought to the front, good post once again

Nice post. I suspect there are many reasons, depending upon the situation and circumstance:

1. Brevity, as Ankur points out.2. Pronunciation: it's not a question of Americans being dumb. We Indians are schooled in multiple languages since childhood, and our Sanskrit-derived languages pack a large assortment of consonants and syllables. We are experts across the world because of our ability to pronounce difficult words correctly.3. How many times have you said William Gates, and not Bill? Or Michael Tyson, and not Mike? Point is, it's not just Indians who do it, they do it themselves too.

Have you ever tried to pronounce the names like the Zimbabwe cricket Mpumelelo Mbangwa? Even our Bengali friends can not pronounce "V". of course Indians are much better and we adopt to anythings so easily.

I have heard Indians change their names in western countries for business reasons. If the names are easy to pronounce and sound similar to their region, some sort of affection comes which is good for business. One interesting change of pronunciation without changing the spelling is "Manohar" being called as "Man O' Har". (Some NRI friends used to tell me this)

In India too, people shorten their names for having pet names or to show more affection to one. Over the period it holds. My wife is very good in making names short for people. I am called "Aggie" (only by my wife ok) by my wife.She does this for every friend of hers.

At times it becomes too much. In Bangalore, I have heard almost all Padmanabhans are called as "Paddy" and a lot of Shanmugams being called "Shan", of course Mahalingam as "Maali". Very funny na. But in colleges, it is initials to give the respect to prof and in corporates it is to have the conversation very easy like VK, MK, etc.

The names "Bill Gates" and "Mike Tyson" weren't used to make the pronounciation of their original names easier right?

@ Akanathan

//Have you ever tried to pronounce the names like the Zimbabwe cricket Mpumelelo Mbangwa?//

No, I haven't for I don't know how it is pronounced. But if I know how it is pronounced I would definitely pronounce it rightly. I wonder whether he is ready to have a nick name called "Bang".

//In India too, people shorten their names for having pet names or to show more affection to one//

You are right. Having a pet name, as many pointed out, is to show affection.

I knew a guy called Padmanabhan and he was called Paddy amongst his friends. This was because there were two guys named Padmanabhan and hence to differentiate, the name "Paddy". But he has not lived in Karnataka. I am wondering at the similarities.

Taking about initials, the director Balachandar is always quoted as "K.Balachandar". I wonder why.

Apart from all the reasons given above, I usually ask them NOT to address me by last name for the simple reason that I find a mispronounced name derogatory! Oh yeah and Indians too stumble with Chinese, Russian or some East European names, even those guys shorten it :)

Yes, VRB: I was trying to list different reasons - why Americans like their names to be shorter has got nothing to do with difficulty of pronunciation.

Priyank: I would like to make a distinction here. When Indians stumble with East European or Oriental names, it is because they are unfamiliar with how to interpret the pronunciation from the English representation of the name, not because of the inherent difficulty of pronunciation.

I mean, if you write those names in Devnagri when introducing them to an Indian person, he would not have any difficulty. That is the reason once an Indian learns the correct pronunciation by actually listening to it, he learns and then doesn't stumble.

This doesn't hold true with our names, however many times we may explain the pronunciation to Americans or others.

Sometimes it helps to have a nick name because your name is distorted by the Western World. Why Western world alone,people fron non Hindi speaking states distort Hindi names and Hindi speaking people distort the South Indian and Bengali names.I am a victim of this so I can understand the justification of having a nick name.

come on ..... its not an inferiority complex ((most of the times)) it starts out simple as a pet name amongst pals ......as it easier to make fun/pull leg of a single syllable name than a bigger 1..... then it just carries on.... n isn't it kinda bugging correcting ppl again n again ..... n its not always for the westerners too....... most north-Indians ve a hard time pronouncing ZH ..... as in tamizh .. isnt that y v ve kept it as Tamil.... ??? n we ourselves find it very difficult to pronounce a manipuri name.... so we shorten it ..... so as long as its done in good humor.... i guess its fine

VBR: In my experience, North Indians are more likely to make a hash of pronouncing names like Mahendra (Mahinder!), Devendra (Davinder!) and names containing -sha- (always -sa-, just like nails screeching down a blackboard), than many westerners. If one patiently teaches them once, they normally do not resort to familiar names.

That said, I wrote something about names a few weeks ago, which may interest you:http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/the-name-game-or-gaming-naming/

The husband & I both have difficult to pronounce names (by local standards). He opts to use his simpler surname while I don't. After all I take the effort to learn to pronounce new (to me) names don't I! But it's not just Indians who do this- I have several Chinese friends who have adopted english names just so it makes it easier for them and those they interact with. Guess ultimately it boils down to how patient one is..would you rather correct someone's flawed pronunciation or give yrself a nick..many seem to choose the latter.